West Midlands Fire Service failed to check up on 'faked' qualification of former chief

An investigation has confirmed that former West Midlands fire chief officer Wayne Brown 'incorrectly' claimed to hold an MBA degree when he was promoted to lead the organisation - and no checks were done to uncover his lie.

External auditors Grant Thornton have confirmed in a report that fire service recruiters failed to check up on Mr Brown's claimed qualifications on two occasions - when appointing him to deputy in 2019, and then later in 2023 when he was promoted to chief. Had they done so, they would have discovered he did not hold the MBA qualification he had stated he had on his CV and social media profiles. It was a 'specific qualification for the role'.

Mr Brown, 54, a father, died in January this year, after being informed he was under investigation and faced possible suspension over the qualification issue. He had already been the subject of multiple targeted social media posts and official complaints in the months beforehand about other allegations and was said to be under huge pressure.

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A report by auditors to the West Midlands Fire and Rescue Authority this week (Monday) said they had already begun their inquiries into Mr Brown's qualifications when 'unprecedented issues' occurred. They found 'a number of significant weaknesses in respect of a recruitment check for previous senior officers'. This was one of seven critical findings against the service as a result of the auditors' inquiries.

Avtar Sohal, of Grant Thornton, told fire authority members that auditors had been made aware of issues relating to Mr Brown's appointment in January. "We have worked with the monitoring officer (Satinder Sahota) at the fire authority to undertake an audit on recruitment arrangements....we identified significant concerns."

Three significant weaknesses were found around recruitment practices that must be addressed, he found. At the time of Mr Brown's initial appointment in 2019, there was no 'dedicated recruitment team' at the authority and his qualifications were not checked.

The report added: "The lack of employment checks at this time increased the risk to the Authority that people hired to any posts did not hold the qualifications required for their role and therefore would have not been appointed."

By the time Mr Brown applied to become chief fire officer in winter 2022 the authority's recruitment checks team were in place - but they 'assumed' his qualifications had already been checked during his recruitment to deputy. By contrast, the qualifications and employment history of an external candidate were thoroughly checked and "both proceeded to have professional competency interviews with the National Fire Chiefs Council."

"The external candidate was subject to qualification checks whereas the internal candidate was not," says the report.

There were subsequently further concerns raised around the qualifications of senior fire officer, Joanne Bowcock, who was seconded temporarily to West Midlands from Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service. She had claimed to have a law degree from the University of Liverpool, only for it to later emerge she had started but not completed a degree. In a 2023 media release, the West Midlands service had referred to Bowcock's secondment, saying she joined the fire and rescue service "with a degree in law". In its report, the external auditors found this failure to independently check the veracity of the qualifications of secondees was an additional 'significant weakness'.

"We were made aware there were a lack of qualification checks for secondees from other fire authorities. Senior management's view was that they would have expected the other fire authorities to have done their qualification checks alongside right to work checks...and did not question this."

The auditors have told the authority to 'seek their own assurances and confirmations on any secondee's qualifications from other organisations before they commence work for the fire authority."

The actions of interim chief officer Oliver Lee, who was brought in to steady the service after Mr Brown's shocking death, were also scrutinised by auditors. They found that during 2024 a series of issues arose related to Mr Lee's tenure. These included significant concerns about how a statutory officer came to be suspended; how an interim commercial director was appointed; how an officer was designated to be Section 151 officer; and how an audit and risk committee meeting was postponed.

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Concluded the auditors' report: "We have identified seven significant weaknesses in all in relation to governance in respect to the authority's arrangements to secure economy, efficiency and effectiveness, and raised two statutory recommendations, three key recommendations and two improvement recommendations. The number of weaknesses and recommendations raised indicate that there are serious governance failings at the Authority which need addressing," said Mr Sohal.

The fire authority accepted the report in full and confirmed its recommendations were also already in place or in motion. A full inquest into the circumstances of Mr Brown's death is due to resume in the new year.